


Dark Windows

by Beegg



Category: Original Work
Genre: 1950s, Dark Windows, Multi, Original Fiction, Zombies, housewives, wooop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 23:09:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14840973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beegg/pseuds/Beegg
Summary: The year is 1953. Scientists have just released a new serum called "Hearter" which, supposedly, heightens your five senses.The product disappears from the stores in seconds as every man that can afford it buys it in packs. Unfortunately, the scientists failed to calculate the body's ability to cope with the serum. Minutes after it is injected, it supplies the symptoms it had promised, but it very quickly decays the brain. It only leaves the animalistic instinct to survive, even if that includes feeding on your own.Fortunately, the serum was designed to work with the male body, therefore, it didn't work with women. Housewives were forced to flee from their husbands and team up to survive themselves. The skills they needed in their previous lives barely work in the zombie apocalypse, so now they have to forget about the old stereotypes and try to make a new life for themselves and their family.~Inspired by the video game, Aberford.





	1. Rock Music and Canned Turkey

"In, in I tell you!" Dolly waved her right hand outside, her left hand located safely on the doorknob, ready to close the door if needed. "Now!"

The women rushed to the door, their heels making clicking sounds on the porch steps of the house. As they ran inside, Margaret glanced over them to make sure everyone was there, then closed the door. She and Dolly grabbed two pieces of wood they had left aside and put them in the nails on the side of the door they had prepared beforehand.

"We almost did it!" Eleanore yelled, pushing Dolly as soon as they finished. Dolly, the strongest of the lot, looked at her as if she had just poked her.

"There were about a dozen of them out there. You almost got killed, that's what you did." She said, in a low grumble. 

"Still, we could've-!"

"If you're gonna scream, I think it's best if you go to the kitchen. Yelling will only attract them." Margaret waved her hand dismissively.

"I'm gonna go upstairs guys. Wash up the blood, you know?" Judy smiled, trying to lighten the mood before she went to the bathroom. Dolly and Eleanore nodded and shuffled upstairs as well, leaving the oldest and youngest housewives alone in the foyer.

"Well, I guess I'll start dinner." Beth sighed.

~

The record-player was murmuring soft rock music. Bonnie sighed, hearing it as she stepped into the room. She had forgotten to turn it off before she showered. Surely, Margaret had already heard it, and Bonnie was bound to a scolding on wasting electricity. 

Honestly, who cared?

In the middle of a male-zombie apocalypse, was there really a need for recycling and saving and all that crap?

Not to mention, listening to rock music was fun. Not to say living with her stepmom, four housewives and a teen guy wasn't fun... but it wasn't.

Bonnie sighed again and pulled the towel from her hair, putting it on the chair next to the drawer. She would be scolded about that too, and she knew it.

She flinched as she heard a door slam and her roommates scream. It seemed they had returned from their killings. Bonnie looked out the window and, sure enough, in the front yard were scattered a few skulls and dead-un-dead bodies. Most importantly, a large gathering of zombies walking around stupidly. Bonnie grabbed a small rock from the flower pot on the windowsill, opened the window and threw it towards one of the wandering monsters.

She didn't get to see the result of her attack though, for in walked one of her roommates, fuming.

"I can't believe she did that!" Eleanore yelled, stomping in. "I cannot believe she fucking did that!"

"What happened?" Bonnie said, sitting down on her mattress, the closest one to the window.

"God- Dolly! She fucking pulled us in, making us think there was a fire or some shit when we were in the middle of a killing spree!" Eleanore ranted, taking off her shoes and putting her hammer on top of the dresser. "And she was just so- God, can you turn off that fucking music?"

Bonnie leaned sideways and lifted the tonearm from the record player. Eleanore grabbed her own towels though and was heading to the only shower of the house. Bonnie figured another fight would come up, as she had heard the unmistakable lock of the shower door click a few minutes before.

~

"What's for dinner?" Raymond asked, leaning softly on the column. Beth, the sweetest of the six women, was looking over a pot on the gas stove. She looked up and smiled warmly at him.

"Turkey and tomato soup." Of course, both canned.

"Can I help?" Beth gripped the side of the pot firmly, surprised. She quickly hid it and smiled back at him again.

"There's no need, I've almost finished." Ray nodded and walked out. He knew that was a lie since the tomato soup wasn't even boiling yet. He wasn't really fond of cooking, but he just felt so bad for never helping out around the house. He wasn't allowed to cook, clean, nor go outside and fight the plague. He felt like a random freeloader the others had to take care of, not to mention he had his own room while his six roommates had to share.

Ray sighed and crossed the path to the living room, the only place in the house with a bookcase. There was also a tv there, but since the plague, it had been positively useless. He reached for the left side of it, where he had organized all the books that looked interesting. Whoever had lived there before them apparently didn't think any books except encyclopedias and self-care ones were interesting. He grabbed one he had brought himself and went up the stairs. Ray would read on the top floor, but all the windows were boarded up and there was no electricity to light up the rooms.

He avoided all the traps scattered around the stairs and stepped into the hallway of the top floor. When he stepped onto a creaky floorboard, the door on the left opened. Bonnie, the only one out of the six women his age, peaked from inside. 

"Do you know what's for dinner?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Turkey and tomato soup." Bonnie groaned and closed the door with a slam. Ray flinched a little bit but continued walking towards his room, the last one. It was the smallest one, which made sense since only one person was living there.

Ray threw the book on his mattress and put his jacket on top of the dresser on the side of the door, which he closed behind him. He threw himself at his "bed" and cringed as the floor creaked under him. He threw his shoes off in the process and grabbed his book, holding it above his head to read.

Hopefully, he wouldn't finish it before dinner.


	2. Bridges and Poodle Skirts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gals go get water while Bonnie helps Beth with the sewing of a skirt.

The cutlery clinked as the "family" ate in silence. Judy had tried to lighten the mood with a few jokes earlier on, and as far as Eleanore knew, that's all she did. Apparently, she had two children (two girls or two boys?) that had died during the apocalypse. Eleanore wondered if Judy had always been like that or if it was just the result of the death of her family. Just in case, she added "Meet a humor-less Judy" to her mental list of "Things To Do If I Go To a Universe Where The Apocalypse Never Happened". She liked to say the whole name in her mind instead of thinking of an abbreviation. It was her own kind of humor.

"We're short on water," Dolly said, interrupting Eleanore's thoughts.

"Who was on the last water trip?*" Margaret asked, folding her hands and looking across the table. Since she was the oldest, everyone considered her the leader and followed her directions. The only one that dared threaten her orders was Bonnie, her daughter, and even those threats where very occasional. 

"Beth and me," Judy said, dipping her turkey in the soup

"Was there any left in the store?"

"We went all the way to Oklaser," Beth said. Eleanore leaned a little bit across the table to hear her. "The store on Pearey only had spoiled bread."

"What about on Lioness? Have we already gone there?"

"We tried, but it was full of zombies." Eleanore jumped into the conversation, fondling with her spoon. "There's a river nearby, so the store is probably intact*."

"Maybe instead of two, four people can go, " Dolly said.

"Yeah, and if there's a river there has to be a bridge, right?" Judy said, moving her hands to explain her idea. "Go through the bridge.

"That's a good idea." Margaret nodded. "Dolly, Judy, Eleanore and..." She looked across the table at the person in front of Eleanore. "Beth, do you want to stay or go as well?"

"I think I'd rather stay." Eleanore frowned. Nobody asked her what she wanted to do. She didn't give it much thought though, as she knew she'd still go if she had been given a choice.

"Perfect. Dolly, Judy, Eleanore and me will go."

~

Officially, Dolly did not like bridges.

They were bumpy and had rocks and zombies crawling on the sides and they were NOT made for cars, especially a microbus.

"Gah!" Dolly heard Eleanore and Judy yelp in unison from the backseat. There were no seatbelts on the back, and the rocky path was probably making them jump. Eleanore grunted and said, "Gee, be more gentle, will you?"

Dolly grunted as well in response. She had learned it was better not to respond to Eleanore's snarky comments.

"We're almost there," Margaret assured them. Dolly looked up and realized she was right. She had kept her eyes on the corners of the road, careful to smash any zombie's hands from trying to crawl up and not fly off the bridge. The street was pretty, white banisters and red brick buildings. In the side of her eyesight though, was a one-floor convenience store.

"Hey, careful!" Judy pushed her shoulder slightly. Dolly returned her gaze to the corners and realized the car was going sideways and was about to fall in the water. She quickly turned on the wheel, also careful not to fall on the other side. She didn't need to worry though, as the bridge finished and the car stepped onto the street. Now that they were on a floor actually meant for cars, their drive was smooth and quick, and in seconds they were already in an alley behind the store.

"The door is locked," Judy told them, still trying to turn the doorknob.

"Of course," Margaret sighed, pausing to rub the bridge of her nose. "Is there a piece of wood or something hard we can use to smash the door open?"

"No..." Eleanore said looking around. "Our best option would be going to the front."

"It's full of zombies though," Judy said, now trying to unlock the door with her hair clip.

"Maybe we can smash one of the windows-" Dolly was interrupted by the sound of the door clicking. The three girls turned to see Judy in front of an open door. 

"Boss!" Eleanore smiled, interrupting the silence and sneaking beside Judy to get inside. The others followed, and Judy stayed behind to lock the door again for zombies.

"Alright, we'll split up," Margaret said, rounding them up at the entrance of the store. "Dolly and Eleanore, try to get any food that is non-perishable or spoiled. Judy and I will search for the water."

~

The first floor was always dark. Beth hated it, even though it seemed she spent most of her time there. She wasn't one of reading, which was the only possible entertainment, so she was always in the kitchen. She was the only one that wasn't really annoyed by cooking a lot. Sometimes, some of the girls would take her place and let her rest, but in those times Beth got terribly bored.

Whether she had fun killing zombies or not depended on the situation. She wasn't like Eleanore, who put all her anger (that was a lot) into the killings. Sometimes she did have fun, breaking zombies' necks as she imagined them as her parents, who had almost prevented her marriage. 

Oh, how she had loved him.

They spent three months in a bliss until he bought that fancy new serum circling the market. Beth still remembered her wedding day. It was the sixth of March (he had decided, she wanted June 18th), underneath the beautiful sun with the shade of an oak tree.

Beth chuckled to herself. The perfection of that day and the three months that came afterward surely were a sign that something was going to go wrong (oh, so terribly wrong).

She guessed her situation was better than Judy's, who was married for two years and had twin boys. Or better than Margaret and Bonnie, who lost their husband/father. No, theirs was better than anyone else's. They had each other.

"Beth?" Beth looked up to see who had interrupted her thoughts. Speaking of the devil, it was Bonnie. She was wearing a yellow dress too long for her short stature. Beth made a mental note to sew the sleeves and give her one of her extra poodle skirts.

"Yes?"

"Is there something you need help with? I'm kinda bored and there's nothing else to do..."

Beth was surprised to hear that. The young girl surely didn't seem bored locked in her room listening to music for two months straight.

"Yes, there is," Beth said, smiling slightly to herself. "Come on, follow me.

~ 

Margaret walked her hands in the run-down sink. The downstairs bathroom was reserved for cleaning up if needed after going outside. Ray wasn't allowed to go in, of course, as at least the sink was probably infected. No one really knew how the plague had spread so fast, but the family's theory was that it clung to solids. A zombie could spread their plague into a piece of wood, for example, and then if a man touched or was in close proximity to the infected piece of wood he would be infected himself. That's why they were so careful.

Margaret shook her hands above the sink and opened the door into the house. She walked upstairs and opened the door to her room. She was surprised to find the room empty, her daughter nowhere to be seen. She smiled a little bit as she thought that finally, she was going out of that damned room. 

Margaret took off her shoes next to the drawer and out another, a cleaner pair from beside the chair before walking back out. As she was about to walk down the stairs, she heard a soft yelping coming from the other shared room. Margaret ran to it, expecting the worst, and opened it, slamming it into the wall.

What she saw surprised her to no end.

Bonnie was on top of a box, wearing a white shirt rolled up to her elbows tucked into a soft purple poodle skirt. On her knees was Beth, string, and needle, sewing a seam in the skirt.

"Oh, hello Margaret!" Beth smiled, standing up and grabbing Bonnie softly by the shoulders to turn her around so Margaret could see her final result. Her stepdaughter's features had always been very soft, so it was such a loss she spent half her time frowning. Her long brown hair (the same as her father) was brushed down, her fringed made to look thick as they used to show in the magazines. The poodle dress elongated her figure, making her short stature more poised.

Margaret smiled.

"Look how pretty you are!" Margaret took Bonnie into her arms, lifting her off the box.

"Mom!" She groaned kicking her legs as Beth giggled. "Mom, stop!"

"Why is everyone screa- Wow!" Judy entered, joining Beth in her giggles as Margaret finally let Bonnie on the floor.

"Guys, don't-" Bonnie groaned, her shoulder smothered in her mom's shoulder.

"Oh my god, you're so chrome-plated!" Eleanore came in, cackling at the annoyed girl's new look.

Bonnie groaned yet again and finally managed to squirm away from her mother and storm away from the room, leaving the four women laughing in the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhh!!! I surpassed a thousand words this time, I'm proud of myself :)
> 
> Anyways, to make some things clearer:
> 
> They go on water trips to find drinkable water in stores (since there isn't running water anymore)
> 
> The store next to the river is intact because besides eating human flesh, zombies search for water by breaking into stores and stuff. If there's a river, the zombies are drinking from there and don't need to search in convenience stores.
> 
> Also a little 1950's slang dictionary:
> 
> boss - cool
> 
> chrome-plated - dressed up
> 
> Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> AHHHHHHHHH! I am so excited! The first thousand words! I didn't edit this because I was so excited to publish it oops
> 
> Kinda worried I already bore y'all with all my descriptions, because there is going to be a lot more lmao. Writing room descriptions is definitely the only flaw in my writing :))
> 
> I think I'm in love with Bonnie btw. She kinda reminds me of a Greaser or a rebel without a cause. I'm still kinda experimenting with the character relationships and interactions though.
> 
> I also love the idea of small alliances, like how in big families you have favorite cousins and siblings you escape to in family meetings. Like, Eleanore and Bonnie both have like this hot-headed, sassy and kinda shitty personality so they would team up for the most part. And Judy and Margaret are the ones that have the most housewife/mother experience so that would be another alliance.
> 
> Anyways, I really hope you guys enjoy this!


End file.
